Thanks to a successful showing at the open house, Otonokizaka decides to hold off on shutting down for the time being and the faculty rewards μ’s with a second clubroom. That room seems spacious enough to allow for dance practice though even with that and Eli now part of the team, the girls still practice on the school’s rooftop. It’s pretty much tradition at this point. Mind you, things aren’t over yet. The school may still close one day so the girls are still hedging their bets on Love Live. μ’s has now climbed to 50th place in the school idol ranking site but to get into Love Live, they need to be in the Top 20. I suppose it’s obvious what will eventually happen but with four more episodes left in Season 1, it does feel like an uphill battle for μ’s to rank that high.
In the meantime, Nico convinces the group to do some “training” in Akiba. Really, it’s just an excuse for her to gauge her popularity and spoiler alert: Nico is eclipsed by just about everyone else in the club. The gang stumbles upon a store selling unofficial merchandise pertaining to school idols, including μ’s. This ultimately becomes a traditional way for Love Live‘s characters to learn how popular they’re becoming. I’ve never said it before but now that I think about it, it’s a bit weird to see some store create merch of these girls, who make zero dollars off of their work and are all underage, without their consent and without giving them a fraction of their profits. Someone in the cast might want to sue.
Anyway, Honoka notices one particular picture of Kotori wearing a maid uniform. Just seconds later, Kotori shows up in said outfit, asking the shopkeeper to remove the picture (see, someone gets it). So yeah, the show finally reveals what Kotori’s big secret is and who Minalinsky is. Granted, it’s really not that big of a twist. It’s just Kotori working part-time at a maid cafe, hence the uniform, and Minalinsky is the alias she’s gained while working there. I’m sure why Kotori kept it a secret in the first place. Like maybe there’d be snickers but no one in μ’s strikes to me as super judgmental. I suppose she’s afraid of her mother finding out; that could create an awkward conversation.
I really like Kotori’s last ditch attempt to conceal her identity. All she does use some of the balls sold at the shop to cover her eyes and pretend to be a “foreigner” as Rin puts it. That might be one of my favorite jokes in the show. It’s so stupid that I can’t help but find it funny. What really sells it is Eli, who is part-Russian, looking offended or at the very least, unamused at Kotori’s attempt. Also funny is Kotori running away from everyone. She apparently planned escape routes in case she ever got caught. I would’ve loved to see her in he room, looking at a map at 3 AM to figure out the best routes.
Frankly, Kotori really needed the spotlight. I think Kotori is really charming and the chemistry between her, Honoka, and Umi really carried the show through its first three episodes. But out of the initial trio, she’s gotten the short end of the stick. Honoka is the main protagonist so she’s not starving for attention. Umi has given her fair share of comedy and drama, not to mention she plays a big part in getting Eli recruited (and by the way, I really enjoy her chemistry with Eli). With Kotori however, she hasn’t had a whole lot to do after the first concert. I have to hand it to Love Live! then for acknowledging this issue and incorporating it in the plot of the episode. She does work at the cafe because she likes the maid outfit (I see Kotori is a girl of culture) but she also does it because it gives her something to set her apart from Honoka and Umi. Where as Honoka is a natural leader and Umi headstrong, Kotori feels she has nothing by comparison and she would like that change.
Afterwards, Eli decides that μ’s should hold a concert at Akiba to promote themselves. Since Kotori frequents the area, she gets elected to write a new song as opposed to Umi as per usual. This assignment proves to be easier said than done as Kotori struggles to come up with anything, to the point that it’s affecting her studies. Being the best friend that she is, Honoka comes up with a very good solution to the problem. She decides to have both her and Umi work at the cafe alongside Kotori. That way, they can gain some understanding of how Kotori feels about her job and, by extension, Akiba.
I admit to being skeptical of Kotori’s job. Like, does it actually have a positive effect on it or is it just an excuse for the show to put her in something cute? The show certainly feels indulgent in the concept. There’s a couple shots where Kotori serves her friends but they’re framed as if they could be in a first person POV and you the viewer could inject yourself into your fantasy where Kotori is your maid/waitress. That said, you do see how the job is beneficial. Unlike Honoka and Umi, who stumble a couple times during their first day of work, Kotori is clearly very experienced in the field. While waitressing, she exudes a lot of confidence and charisma that we’ve never really seen from her before. In just one scene, you completely understand why Kotori continues to visit Akiba and work at the cafe.
Honoka notes this and encourages Kotori to put her feelings towards her job and the area into her song, which the latter does. I do think the song is a bit vague as the lyrics don’t directly refer to Akihabara. That’s probably to keep the song more generalist and give it more mass appeal but it does feel like a copout to me. Granted, if I want to nitpick, I should instead note that the show barely provides a MV. It’s mostly a montage of CGDCT antics with the girls, particularly at the maid cafe. I know that not every insert song needs to be accompanied by a MV but Eli explicitly said it’ll be for a concert so it’s weird for that to be sparingly depicted at the end of the episode. I can’t help but find it very funny that you actually have Kotori as the center and that’s moot shakeup since you barely get to see the concert. I’m picturing Honoka saying, “Okay Kotori, you can be the center but it’ll have to mostly be offscreen, hehe.”
After the concert, we see the second year trio promise to each other to forever stay together as friends(?). Clearly these girls are jinxing themselves as Kotori receives a curious letter in the mail. I’m guessing it’s an acceptance letter to study abroad. This might serve to give a more interpersonal stake in the plot, which seems a bit unnecessary to me. I mean, isn’t saving the school enough for the story? Still, this could be interesting. I really like the chemistry between the initial trio so I’m not opposed to see some more drama out of it.
Watch Love Live! School Idol Project on Crunchyroll
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